Why Pope Francis Is Angry With Donald Trump Just Days Before Meeting Him

Pope Francis has criticised the naming of the US military’s largest non-nuclear explosive ever used in combat as “the mother of all bombs”.

“I was ashamed when I heard the name,” the pontiff told an audience of students at the Vatican. “A mother gives life and this one gives death, and we call this device a mother. What is going on?”

Last month the US dropped such a bomb, which weighs 21,600lb (9,800kg), on Islamic State militants in Afghanistan. Pope Francis is set to meet US President Donald Trump on May 24 in a potentially awkward encounter, given their opposing positions on immigration, refugees and climate change.

It is not the first time that the pope has taken offense from something connected to Mr Trump. The two disagree on a range of subjects and Pope Francis has been critical of the American president several times.

For instance, the two have diametrically opposed views on immigration, very different understandings of the impacts and importance of climate change, and do not see eye to eye on how to respond to the ongoing refugee crisis that has stemmed from the civil war in Syria that has torn up families and communities.